This invention relates to a method and apparatus for dividing a mixture of vapor and liquid from a first stream carried in a supply line into multiple streams conducted in respective branchlines, each of the multiple streams having a similar ratio of vapor to liquid. More particularly, the present invention employs a substantially horizontal header which receives a first stream from a supply line and divides it into a plurality of streams having similar vapor-liquid ratios.
Many operations and processes require a supply of vapor and liquid mixture available for use at a plurality of adjacent sites. Often, the vapor and liquid mixture is most conveniently prepared at a central facility, initially conducted through a single supply line and delivered to each adjacent site through a separate branchline. Some applications require control of the vapor-liquid ratio in the branchline to ensure the uniformity of the vapor and liquid mixtures delivered at each of the sites.
One such application is the thermal recovery of oil in which it would be convenient to generate steam at a central facility, conduct the steam to the field in a single or common supply line, divide the supply line into multiple branchlines at a header, and supply wet steam to one well within the field with each branchline.
The difficulty in this distribution is that without special provisions, the vapor and liquid components of the steam will not divide with uniform vapor-liquid ratios entering each of the branchlines. The disparity in this ratio or steam quality is a serious concern in oil recovery applications because similar steam quality throughout the field is desirable for reservoir management purposes.